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June 18, 2006

Turkey: UK Artist Faces Jail For Lampooning Islamist Leader

The Islamist President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan does not have a sense of humour. That much became obvious when Musa Kart, political cartoonist for the secular newspaper Cumhuriyet, was fined 3,000 Euros, ($3,793) in March last year. Musa Kart had depicted Erdogan as a cat, entangled in a ball of wool, with a speech-bubble saying: "Don't create tensions, we promised we're going to solve it" This cartoon appeared in his paper, and was reprinted in a local paper called Sakarya, and once again Erdogan sued.

Musa Kart was convicted of "publicly humiliating" the prime minister, states Fecoweb. The cartoon had appeared in May 2004, after the Islamist PM had tried to undermine the strict rule of secularism which apples to Turkey's universities. Erdogan had tried to force legislation, which would have allowed graduates of Islamic clerical training schools to enter universities. The secularist president, Ahmet Necdet Sezer, refused to allow the bill to go through parliament.

We have recently described the current battles between Islamists from Erdogan's Justice & Development Party (AKP) and upholders of the nation's secular traditions, first laid out by Kemal Ataturk in the 1920s.

Musa Kart is not the only cartoonist to have fallen foul of Erdogan's arrogance and spite. When in 2004, Hilal Incesu commented on how Erdogan had sued another newspaper, Evrensel for showing a caricature of the president, receiving a fine of 6,000 Euros, ($7,586) he too was prosecuted. Hilal Incesu, who is cartoonist for Ulkede Ozgur Gundem newspaper, received a 50 month suspended sentence.

So the work shown below, which was displayed at an art exhibition in Istanbul, the commercial hub of Turkey, is not going to be taken lightly by the Islamist Prime Minister.

The Sunday Times reports that this work, by British artist Michael Dickinson, was removed from the exhibition by Turkish police.

The artist has been told that he will most likely be charged with "insulting the dignity of the Prime Minister". The organizer of the show, Erkan Kara, will be put on trial on September 12 for the same charge.

The 56-year old artist, who is part of the Stuckist movement, has depicted Erdogan as a dog in a pet show, being awarded a rosette by President Bush. The work is titled "Best in Show". A small shiny turd appears to have fallen out of the Erdogan pooch's behind, though it could have been left by the corgi in the left of the picture.

Dickinson states: "It's such an Alice in Wonderland feeling. The law is so absurd...This law exists in Turkey about insulting 'Turkishness' or the State. You're not allowed to state your opinion."

This much is true. Last year, there were 60 Turkish academics, publishers and journalists either facing prosecution or in jail for offending the powers that be.

Article 301 of Turkey's penal code prohibits anyone "who explicitly insults being a Turk, the Republic or Turkish Grand National Assembly", and the sentence for infringement is up to three years' jail. In January we reported that Orhan Pamuk, Turkey's most famous writer, had charges agains him dropped for "insulting Turkey". Pamuk's case was dropped because it created a national outcry. We mentioned the cases of editor Hrant Dink and publisher Abdullah Yildiz, whose less famous status has not brought them support from Europe and beyond.

According to Andy Davey of Fecoweb: "The revised code, which goes into effect on April 1 2005, includes prison sentences for those who "insult" the state, publish classified information or cover such issues as rape or euthanasia. The new law also bars religious officials such as Muslim imams, Christian pastors and rabbis from criticizing the government during religious services. A call to disobey the government will be punishable by prison sentences of up to two years."

Michael Dickinson and Erkan Kara may face three year jail sentences, if found guilty. The work was par of an exhibition entitled Global Peace and Justice Coalition, and Dickinson had done the picture to highlight the way Erdogan had sued cartoonists for depicting him as an animal.

Born in Durham, Dickinson has lived in Turkey for 20 years, and he teaches English at Yeditepe University.

This situation will hopefully bring some pressure to bear on Erdogan and his tyranny, and will make it plain to all those who have supported Turkey's accession into the European Union, including Blair, that Turkey is not ready.

One of the foundations of a modern democracy is the ability to criticise those in power, and to do cartoons of them, and to make fun of them. Freedom of expression is a vital factor for a democracy to call itself a democracy, and not a tyrannical regime.

Charles Thomson of the Stuckist art movement has written to Blair, saying that an applicant for EU membership must not censor political comment and still be allowed to join up. He wrote: "I trust you will communicate your strongest condemnation and ask for this case to be abandoned."

I believe this case should not be abandoned. Because of his British connections, Dickinson's case will highlight to those in the rest of Europe that Turkey under Erdogan simply is not capable of becoming part of Europe. And equally importantly, putting Islamist Turkey under the lens of democratic accountability will also make it easier for those within Turkey, writers, editors, publishers, cartoonists, artists, to be able to have the freedom of expression that others take for granted. If Turkey's laws remain as they are, it should kiss goodbye to European Union membership.

Erdogan is, despite all the evidence of hypocrisy and tyranny, popular within Turkey. But a man who can even have Piglet removed from state television, because the cute character offends his Muslim sensibilities, is not fit to sit at the table of Europe.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at June 18, 2006 10:29 AM

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